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“Well, Mark seemed keen on the idea. If she’s smart, Chloe will take the offer.”

“Then, she probably will.”

“She’ll have to convince the twins, of course.” Grace could not suppress a groan at the thought of how hard this would be. “Reece really should step down, you know?”

That tense and worried look flew back over Charlie’s face. “Has he spoken to you about the situation? Will you?”

“Not yet. He’s been avoiding me.”

“Oh, Grace…”

“I’ll keep at it, Charlie, I promise. In the meantime, try not to worry too much.”

Despite her loaded family history, Grace would never turn a blind eye when her brother was in trouble. Reece might be too proud to want to accept help… But after receiving confirmation from Charlie’s cardiologist that a spike in stress levels must be to blame for her recent heart issue, Grace was even more motivated to succeed, for both their sake. Then, Charlie hit her with a bit more sensitive stuff.

“Have you heard from your dad?”

“Gosh... No. Next topic.”

“Indulge me, please, darling.”

“It’s been five years since our last brief conversation at my mother’s funeral. And it wasn’t a friendly one. I’m not interested in talking to him, and he’s not likely to reach out to me anytime soon.” A loaded silence ensued as if Charlie may disagree with the statement, prompting Grace to eye her intently. “What is it?”More bad news?“Tell me.”

chapter 12

Grace searched inside herself for any hint of emotion at the news that her father had been diagnosed with stomach cancer a month earlier. She was not too surprised not to find any.

“No one knows yet,” Charlie hurried to tell her. “Luckily, the doctors found it early, and he’s responding well to treatment he’s having at a clinic in New York.”

“That’s good.” Still, zero feeling.

“He asked me not to tell anyone. Chloe and the twins don’t know either. Okay?”

“Right.” Meaning she had to keep it to herself. Grace let out a sigh of frustration. “Why does everything always have to be so damn secretive in this family?”

“I struggle with it too, darling.” The strain showed on Charlie’s face. “Your father doesn’t like to show weakness, I suppose. He’s hoping to get better first, then he’ll tell everyone.”

Despite herself, Grace could relate to this way of wanting to deal with the situation. She knew she must owe her lone wolf character to her father’s genes. What had happened in her teens probably just cemented the whole thing for her.

“Now it makes more sense,” she grumbled.

“What does?”

“Your health issue. You must be stressed out of your mind, worrying about everybody else and their secrets.”

“I’m sorry to unload onto you. I know it’s not fair—"

“Don’t even think that,” Grace interrupted. “Of course, you can unload onto me. Anything, anytime. I’m so grateful for you, Charlie. I swear, the rest of this family are all mad!”

With a chuckle, Charlie stepped forward to embrace her. “I feel even better for your magnificent assessment.”

“I hope that’s true.”

“Totally. But you know, crazy or not, I still wish we could spend Christmas together this year as a family. It’s probably silly to keep hoping that John will reach out to you someday and apologize, but…”

“Are you saying I should make the first move and contact my father?” Grace prompted when she stopped.

“No, honey.” Charlie was firm. “I would never ask that of you. What he did was wrong. And cruel. I wish things could be different, that’s all.”